If any of us were wondering where the United States ranks, relative to the rest of the world, in the general category of "worker protection," there is now a precise answer available -- one supplied by Dr. Kenneth Thomas, political science professor at the University of Missouri (St. Louis), who based his findings on statistics supplied by OECD members.
The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is a group of 34 comparatively "rich" industrialized nations that was founded in 1961 and whose stated purpose, more or less, is to meet semi-regularly to discuss ways of increasing economic progress through world trade. It might help to think of the OECD as an international version of the Chamber of Commerce. Its headquarters are in Paris, France.
The following countries are members of the OECD: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
So what did Professor Thomas learn from his survey? Where does the proud and accomplished United States rank? Shockingly, the U.S. not only finishes dead last overall, but in many of the specific categories (maternity leaves, medical leaves, education, etc.) we're not even within shouting distance of the rest of the pack.
Now a sharp-eyed realist might attempt to mitigate these findings by arguing that getting beaten by Denmark, Sweden and Norway is no disgrace and certainly no surprise. After all, Scandinavia is/was known as a veritable "workers paradise." But Estonia and Mexico? Chile and Slovenia? Surely, someone is joking.
But it's no joke. Professor Thomas shows that the U.S. not only lags well behind its fellow OECD members in worker protection, it even trails the so-called BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries in many areas. Among the categories considered in the OECD study: being fired unfairly, not receiving severance pay, not getting enough notice on mass layoffs, and the use of non-vested, non-permanent employees.
Arguably, the U.S. is undergoing a shift in self-identity. Instead of seeing ourselves, collectively, as a "country" -- a society, a culture, a national community -- we now see ourselves as an economic arena -- a gladiatorial arena where it's every man for himself, where there are only winners and losers. And while no one knows for certain how all of this will play out, it's safe to say it will end badly for the majority (formerly known as "citizens"; now referred to as "losers").
There are two sources of worker protection: federal and state labor laws, and union contracts. In the absence of these two safeguards, it's pretty much going to be economic free-fall. As for the laws, they're being tested and challenged every day by predatory corporations looking for shortcuts and loopholes. Making it worse, the courts and media loyally defend these loopholes. Meanwhile, the Democrats -- labor's putative "friends" -- are terrified of doing anything that will make them look pro-labor.
Which leaves only the unions to provide a modicum of worker protection and dignity. And, as everyone knows, union membership now hovers at a mere 12.4 percent, down from a high of nearly 35 percent back in the glory days of the 1950s, when the middle-class was thriving and prosperous. Who would've thought it possible? Who would've dreamed the day would come when the American worker looked to Estonia for inspiration?
David Macaray, an LA playwright and author ("It's Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor"), was a former union rep. He can be reached at dmacaray@earthlink.net
For starters I'd like to say that using prejudice statements like "Are You Kidding? Estonia Is Ahead of Us?", "But Estonia and Mexico? Chile and Slovenia? Surely, someone is joking." is really insulting and degrading. This exact kind of journalism (mainly in US and UK) is the one that feeds everyone these ignorant stereotypes.
Little history 101: Estonians are Finnic people, speaking a Finnic language. Before WWII Estonia and Finland had about the same GDP per capita. Then the less lucky one was occupied by the Soviet Union. Finland became one of the "Scandinavian"(wrong term for Finland) countries. Now Finland had about 50 years of advantage over Estonia. When Estonia finally broke free from the grips of suppressing Soviet rule we finally could start showing the world what we actually were about. We've had just about 20 years of freedom and we're already catching up to our neighboring countries and if you'd bother to do a little research, then you'd know that during the current crisis period we are one of the most successful countries in the EU (lowest debt, fastest growing GDP% etc.) I'd like to remind you that this isn't the OLD Europe or World any more. And comparing us or any other country in OECD like it belongs to the 3rd world is insulting and just shows your current education level or the lack of it.
The reason why America has fallen behind everyone else is pretty much your own fault and may I remind you that Americans haven't lost their freedom(in any sense) nor has anyone kept you from progressing. Instead of making these offensive marks you should write about what positive is there to learn from these countries.
And as for those people talking about salaries obviously don't have the first clue how our living costs are balanced.
To sum up I'd like to say that I'm in high school and even I can see Your flawed logic. Maybe next time you try to educate yourself about the current situation, pay more attention to what's going on around the world, introduce yourself to your subjects(if it's really that hard, the least you can do is read a Wikipedia page). There's another thing that Estonia is ahead of US and its IT, so if your goal is to get lots of bad reviews then posting it on the web is just a perfect way of accomplishing that.
I wish you all the best (sincerely)
Sven
Estonia is like country with full of slaves. Yes modern slavery is very popular there. Minimum wage per month is 278 eur. It's less than 3400 eur PER YEAR! Average salary there is less than 600 eur per month. Food is very expensive, clothes is very expensive, when we compare with Germany, UK, Italy, Spain and other prices. So it's really really bad place to live. Specially for children. And because of this low salarys, becuase that goverment and banks stealing from people, thats why Estonia have good numbers to show to stupid people who believes everything what they read!
It's not hard to earn a decent pay in Estonia, you just need some commitment and some hard work.
Also, don't bring bullsh** arguments in here. According to EP Comparative Study, 300 000 people have indeed left Lithuania. "It is estimated that 300 000 citizens left Lithuania between 1990 and 2005" (http://jcp.ge/info/Lithuania.pdf) . Estonia is NOT Lithuania. If you actually thought that, then please, go stand in the corner.
I was born here.
I still live here.
And you come saying that I dont want to live here? Complain everyday?
Education in Estonia is amongs the top compared to the world, I bet that you own your English skills(shabby but still) to the educational system here.
Salary is very low? Compared to Sweden? Or Norway? Yes, I agree, but have tried living there? Stop talking about stuff you know nothing about!
Every country has its problems, if you dont like it, move away, Far far away. Like you stated that everybody does.
It's political rhetoric that's necessary for the progressive movement to actually win.
As for the education system, well, you kind of made my point by pointing out that most of Americans have no idea where Estonia is, whereas we make damn sure they don't embarrass us by their lack of basic intelligence.
As for the wages being so low, well yes, have you checked the recent additions to the EU single currency, Estonia was one of them in January 2011. Consequently the prices of goods went up and as per usual, the wages are last to follow. Prior to the Euro currency it didn't really matter that the average salary was approximately 620 eur per month as living costs were about three times less what they are now.
As for where Estonia is situated, yes, we do share a border with Russia, unfortunately, however the national identity is closely linked to Sweden and Finland as they are our neighbours as well.